kuma is a shiba inu that is known for being very aloof. i also have pet rats and whenever i need to feed them or play with them, i make kissy noises and say "ratties!!" and kuma comes running over no matter where he is to fight for my attention. he claws at me and whines for some food too. and normally he doesn't give a rat's arse about me.

but today, i guess, really put him to the test, lol emotionally wise.

we took him to the dog park today, and for some reason, there was only ONE other dog there, a rottie named titus. well, titus being the ham that he was, kept coming over to me and my bf and we kept petting him. kuma kept running over to titus and got all up in his face, and at first i thought kuma just wanted to play. then kuma started getting up in titus' face and made all these whining/honking noises. we couldn't figure out what it was in the beginnig, but then we realized he was jealous! he only made the whiny noises when titus was near our feet, but when they were both out in the open, kuma was fine.

mine get jealous of phatboy, our cat. they dont mind us petting any of them, but try petting the cat and they are all over it. rocky even tries to literally paw him out of our laps. phatboy will slap them up a bit and they give up for a short time. lol

yup, that was always the one and only thing that i hated about muffin, and it would actually make me embarrassed. she is the most jealous dog ever. my aunt had a yorkie that was muffin's "boyfriend" and they would love playing together but if rocky ever came too close to me, my sis, my mom, my grandmother and even my aunt, the play would turn to fighting. nothing ever too bad but she would always snap at him. she is really getting better with her jealousy in her older age though.

Cody is so jealous, he is very much my boy. If I hug my hubby, my sons or my mom or just about anyone he has to get between us and wants up and kisses, if we go to the dog park and another dog comes around me he comes running back to make sure I don't pet them too much if at all, he doesn't get mean he just lets me know I shouldn't do that, that all my lovin is for him and him only. He is getting better but that jealousy thing is still there. I really don't mind as long as he doesn't become agressive about it. I try to explain to him that he lets other people pet and play with him and I don't get jealous and he shouldn't get jealous when I play with another pup but he just isn't catching on to that concept ! :) I love him with all my heart and soul!

I hate to burst the bubble, but this is more of a ranking issue. If the dog feels he is in a higher ranking position then his owners hes simply trying to protect his position from other people or animals. The clues for this is the fact that the dog does actually ignore you more or less, and only seems to care when another animal pesters you for attention. The attention itself onto the dog is only putting him higher on the pedestal. The higher the rank of the dog the more others shower him with attention and he ignores others of lower rank. If he feels the need to protect that rank from other animals, hes simply insecure about his position. There is no Jealousy amoung dogs or hate or even Spite. These are adult human emotions that we label our pets. Dogs have the mentality of a toddler (2-3yrs) Small children do not possess these emotions.

but you do realize the ignoring part is a breed trait right? i don't think it has anything to do with the notion that he thinks he's my alpha. he likes to be at our feet and follows us around the house, he knows that we are the owners, but he still is stubborn.

but don't 3 year olds posses emotions such as jealousy? when they demand attention from their parents over their siblings? so.. is that not a contradiction? or maybe toddlers, too, bicker over rank. even if that was, wouldn't that also be a form of jealousy because they want to be in the "baby of the family" position again? well, i've never had kids myself so i wouldn't know, but some things to chew over.

i thought it was a firm belief that dogs actually do have emotions such as happiness and grief and loneliness, what's to say they're not actually jealous? i'd like to think so :( but that's just me .. again.

Whoa, I didn't say anything about Alpha Behaviors, which aren't (totally) the same as ranking behaviors, there are some differences. But thats a whole other page. Jealousy is a negative human emotion, it is more about attention given to another (its well selfish) With dogs its more about re-establishing a ranking system. It doesn't necessarily mean the dog is mean, or does ignore or doesn't. You did mention he ignores you except when an other animal comes around. And he is correcting the other animal.(Big clues) Just because its a Shiba, doesn't mean that they are all aloof all the time, if there handled a certain way, they can be nice dogs, and attentive.

There are negative emotions and basic emotions. Not before children reach about 3.5 years do they start to feel guilt, and then the others follow. Guilt is a negative emotion, Hate, spite, jealousy these are all negative. Basic emotions are fear, anxiety, stress and fustration (I'm sure I'm forgetting at least one) Take a toddler on the floor haveing a tantrum, thats pure fustration, and their reaction to that feeling, they don't know they are fustrated, they can't comprehend that emotion. Keep in mind I'm simply useing the mind set of a young child to compare with. Humans and dogs are different species, but both go through developmental stages. Dogs Mentality will never get past this stage of development. I would consider a Border Collie on the high end (3yrs) Dogs definetly have emotions, but just basic ones. I wouldn't wish negative emotions on any dog, thats why they are considered pure and inoccent. When we label emotions on dogs its usually because we just don't know whats really going on, we call this Anthropomorphism.

haha right. trust me, i wasn't belittling your post or anything, but i just thought all this wasn't necessarily scientifically proven, that dogs actually do or don't posses human emotions. or so i've read, but i could be wrong.

i'm also sorry you took my original "he ignores me" statement so literally. i guess i didn't mean for people to take the statement at face value, because the tone of the first post was jocular. i did make it clear in the 2nd post that he IS quite attentive to his owners, just not as much as your average velcro dog. i.e. i posted up this video once of him laying right at my feet but when i went to call his name, he'd just stare at me and not come bolting at my face to slobber kisses on me.

haha i can positively picture you imagining my dog sitting in a corner and refusing to interact with me whatsoever.

No, I didn't take it literal. I am well schooled at decodeing what an owner says or trys to explain. I did not think the animal was sitting in a corner, ignoreing you. I understand about the Spitz breeds and their temperments and behaviors.